Ever wondered why Buffy hardly ever sleeps (especially in the last 3 seasons)? Maybe it is only because she is the Slayer with all the super powers that come with that calling. But maybe she actually does consume an awful lot of energy drinks. One energy drink: Red Bull.

Think about it: Buffy has speed, agility, kicks evil’s ass on a regular basis, hardly ever needs to sleep, and still has seemingly unlimited energy to fulfill her duties as a slayer as well as have occasional relations with Vampires (including souls or at least microchips) or soldiers… energy – like promised by Red Bull.

In a parallel dimension there could be a version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that has a slightly different title, but basically the same specs: same story, production values, writers, cast, producers, crew, … with one major difference: it is not produced by the Warner Brothers Network, but by Red Bull. It is also aired on Red Bull’s own online TV channel. And licensed to other (online and traditional TV) networks. Of course, you can also subscribe to and download this show in iTunes, or you can buy it on DVD.

The advantages for the producing corporation are clear: the show will have its stamp on it. Not because the Marketing team has written the script, or rewritten most of it. But because the content that is communicated is appealing to the same target audience, and furthermore in tune with the attributes the brand is associated with.

This would go way beyond product placement as we know it, and also much further than sponsoring: instead on relying on networks or studios to produce TV shows and movies, big companies could crank out shows with high production values that put their brand and products into context for large audiences. They tell the stories that are associated with the brand. And through licensing them to other networks and selling them, companies could even make a buck.

This is not a brave new world idea. Firstly, the TV shows we watch are already sponsored to a large degree by corporations. In this dimension, Apple did heavy product placement throughout the series. McDonalds was a  sponsor of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And secondly: Bud TV is the first trial of a corporation gone network. Unfortunately though, this undertaking is not at all going as well as it could go (read more about this in my “Spine-chillers” category); a hitch in the execution of a brilliant concept is to blame for that.

Networks and studios depend on corporate sponsors to fund their shows. Yet the attribution to the sponsor isn’t always obvious. If a corporation or brand however chose to produce a TV show, either for a network or their own channel, the brand could be much more visible. And this would not mean a more biased content than we already have. The influence over content is always enforced by the producing entities. Replacing a network with a corporation makes no difference to that.

Corporations fund content that they want to be associated with. For the creatives – the writers and producers – this only means pitching their shows to a different funding body. Every funding body has an agenda, and different brands will have different content they want to be linked to.

I do not think that this means an abolishment of networks or government funding agencies, for the very reason just mentioned: different agencies, different agendas, different content. But it does open new opportunities for content creators who want to tell stories as well as corporations who want to be directly associated with those. Because they know that a good tale captures audiences most effectively.

I am sure that producing Buffy The Vampire Slayer would have been right up Red Bull’s alley, and it would have had a great effect on their branding. And nothing really would have had to be changed in Buffy’s world to communicate the brand’s values.

P.S. nerd credits: “Buffy, Slayer of Vampires” is the title that the character Andrew gives his doco in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 7, Episode 16.